Idleness is not doing nothing. Idleness is being free to do anything. ~ Floyd Dell

Back in September, I finished my Pink Clouds socks. At the time I talked about how the yarn (Claudia’s Handpainted) didn’t seem that special to me. After three months of living with the socks, this yarn is on my ‘never again’ list. I wear these socks once a week or once every two weeks. They’ve always been hand washed. And, yet, they look like hell. The color is fading/wearing off the bottom of the socks and they are pilling like mad. I am so disappointed in this yarn. The cost for this pair of socks was $22.

At first, I thought I might be expecting too much from my socks. But then I remembered my Pinky Purple socks. I’ve worn these socks weekly since March and they are also hand washed. They have some slight pilling on the foot, but that’s it. They look nearly brand new. The yarn for these socks was Knit Picks Sock Memories. The cost for this pair of socks was $6. The old saying “you get what you pay for” does not apply to sock yarn.

I am enjoying my vacation from work this week. I’m watching a ton of movies on TCM and knitting a Central Park Hoodie. This is my first sweater ever and I am intimidated as hell. But, I’m knitting on and figuring stuff out as I go. So far, so good:

Love the doggie pictures! I had the same problem with sweet georgias sock yarn. I loved the colorways, but they bleeded after every wash, and felted, and pilled, I handwashed them too. My Koigu socks had a hole in them in no time, and pilled as well. I do have a lot of merino sock yarn, but if I can I’ll knit something else with it. I think the best sock yarn is with some synthetic content. My Trekking XXL socks hold up great, machine washing as well, my all time favorite socks are Knit Picks ? something with cotton, and stretchy too. The color is ugly, but I like the feeling, and they get washed in the machine and get to go into the dryer as well.
Your sweater looks wonderful so far. I hope everything goes well with it!

If you can make a sock – you can make a sweater – easy peasy! I just blocked my Fleece Artist socks and they faded to half the color they once were – haven’t even worn them yet and my Claudia’s are all stretched out and faded too. I do like Scouts – her colors stay brilliant and they wear and wash well – same with Knit Perchance to Dream. My Opals and Treking are good solid ones too. It seems some of the larger scale handpainted stuff doesn’t do that great in my experience.

I still have a couple skeins each of 2 colors of Claudia…probably should plan to make a scarf for some such…but so far, my socks in Claudia are okay – they’re not very old yet. We’ll see.
I find my Trekking XXL socks might wear like iron, but they’re not as warm as the merino socks are…
(sigh)